Ethics & Political Philosophy

Aesthetics is the branch of philosophy concerned with beauty, aesthetic experience and judgment, and the nature and value of art.

The Analects (Lunyu) records sayings and dialogues of Confucius and his disciples. Compiled over centuries, it became central to East Asian ethics, education, and politics.

Chinese philosopher (c. 551–479 BCE) whose teachings on ren, ritual, learning and governance shaped East Asian ethics and politics for two millennia.

Ethics is the philosophical study of morality, examining right action, good character, human well-being, and the justification of moral judgments.

Informed consent is a voluntary authorization for medical care or research, based on adequate information, understanding, and decision-making capacity.

Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer whose ideas shaped political theory, education, and Romantic literature.

Karl Marx (1818–1883) was a German philosopher, economist, and political theorist who co-wrote The Communist Manifesto with Engels, wrote Capital, and developed historical materialism.

Chinese Confucian philosopher known for the goodness of human nature, moral cultivation, and benevolent government.

French Enlightenment thinker whose The Spirit of the Laws (1748) classified governments, linked laws to climate and society, and developed the doctrine of separation of powers.

Political philosophy examines the justification of political power, institutions, rights, and the principles governing collective life.

Montesquieu’s 1748 treatise examining how laws relate to political institutions, social customs, commerce, religion, and geography.

English philosopher whose accounts of human nature, social covenant, and sovereign authority helped shape modern political thought.